I like to kick off the holidays with a marathon cookie-baking session. I have a few stand-bys, like chocolate chip, oatmeal cookies, meringues, and ginger snaps. But each year, I like to add a few new recipes to the mix as well. This recipe for Cranberry White Chocolate Cookies from Southern Living has been on my “to make” list since last holiday season, but with a newborn baby, I just never got around to it.

I chose these because cranberries feel festive and fall-ish to me. I love the flavor combination of cranberries and white chocolate. Serve these at a holiday party, wrap some up and give as gifts to co-workers, send as part of a cookie swap (there just happens to be one in the works for food bloggers — go sign up!), or just keep them at home to enjoy throughout the holiday season.

These cookies freeze beautifully, both before and after baking. Before baking, scoop the dough onto cookie sheets as if you were going to bake, but place them closer together, and place the whole sheet in the freezer. Once the dough balls are frozen, transfer to a plastic freezer, label and date, and note the cooking time and temp. Frozen dough will keep 4 to 6 weeks. After baking, lay cookies in even layers inside a plastic freezer bag with sheets of wax paper between each layer. Place in the freezer. Baked cookies will keep for a month.

I loved the flavor of these cookies. The texture reminded me very much of chocolate chip cookies. I love eat tart dried cranberries with sweet white chocolate. I really liked these cookies, and will definitely continue to keep them in my holiday cookie rotation.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two sheet pans with parchment paper.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter for a few minutes until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the sugar.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well and scraping down the bowl after each addition. Beat in the vanilla.

In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Gradually add to the dough, mixing on low speed just until combined.

Gently stir in the white chocolate chips and the dried cranberries.

Scoop the cookie dough by the tablespoonful (I recommend using a cookie scoop for uniformly-sized cookies) onto the parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, just until the cookies begin to brown on the bottom. Let cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

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Check out what treats the other participants are baking! Click on the photos below.